“There is never any excuse for things being complex when they should be simple.”

Dr de Bono is a highly sought after speaker presenting to senior executives and academics in more than 50 countries.

About Dr Edward de Bono

Dr de Bono is a praised physician, prolific author, inventor and renowned consultant. He is the authority on conceptual thinking as the driver of innovation within an organisation, strategic leadership, creativity, and problem solving. His thinking techniques are praised as simple, practical and powerful and have forged training solutions, critical to the successes of both small and large organisations alike.

Innovator & Architect of Formal Creative Thinking Methods

Creator of Lateral Thinking

Creator of Parallel Thinking and Six Thinking Hats methodology

Creator of Six Value Medals

Respected & Acknowledged

Ranked by University of Professors as one of the top 250 people who have contributed to humanity

Ranked in Top 50 Business Intellectuals in Accenture Top Thinkers & Writers in Management 2002

Ranked number 40 on the 2007 business Thinkers 50 List

EU Appointed ambassador for Creativity and Innovation 2009

Nominated for Nobel Prize for Economics in 2005

Served on the judging panel for Saatchi & Saatchi’s Award from World Changing Ideas

How Massmart is entrenching sound thinking practices and competent decision making at all levels in the organisation.

Peter Drucker highlights that “companies who assume decision making is only done at senior level are making a dangerous mistake. Apparently ‘low level’ decisions are extremely important in your organisation. Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level in your organisation. It needs to be taught explicitly to everyone.”

10h45 – Mid-Morning Refreshments

SESSION ONE

11H15 – Conversations with Dr Edward de Bono “Competence is becoming a commodity. Information is becoming a commodity. State of the Art Technology is becoming a commodity. So what is going to differentiate businesses? How are these commodities to be planned to deliver value? That means DESIGN. That means CREATIVITY. That means new IDEAS. Thinking is going to become more important in business than ever before.” – Dr EDWARD DE BONO

The History of Thinking The power of perception and how your thinking can be a catalyst to out think, out maneuver and out plan your competitors.

How Great Thinkers have Shaped the World of Business Greatest thinkers such as Einstein, Da Vinci and Aristotle have each shaped the way we think in the world today. How have their thinking techniques influenced the business world? Find out if you have fallen into the traditional thinking traps.

The Preceived Progress of Technology Technology has made great strides in business, but what impact has it had on our thinking? Learn how to leverage technological assets as a springboard to future progress.

12h45 – Lunch

SESSION TWO

13h45 – Conversations with Dr Edward de Bono

What’s NEXT? How do we PROGRESS? To progress is to advance, improve and develop. In order to do all of these we need to THINK differently. In this session Dr de Bono will put forward tools that, once developed as a skill, can ensure that your business continues to progress and advance well into the future.

“If you do not design your future, someone or something else will design it for you. The past is not a sufficient blue print for the future. You can analyse the past but you have to design the future. Most corporations could double their profits with a good idea.” – Dr EDWARD DE BONO

15h15 – Afternoon Refreshments

15h45 – Closing Keynote

Andrew Le Roux GM Finance, Risk and Customer Solutions

Old Mutual Retail Mass Market

How new ideas are shaping our nation and the next steps for South Africa.

Essential business sector contributions in shaping our future: Leverage new thinking and action to achieve powerful results in your organization.

16h30 – Close of Conference & Cocktail Reception

Books

Dr Edward de Bono Book List

Atlas of Management Thinking

Conflicts: A Better Way to Solve Them

de Bono’s Thinking Course

Five Day Thinking Course

Future Positive

Handbook for a Positive Revolution

Happiness Purpose

How to Be More Interesting

I am Right, You are Wrong

Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity

Lateral Thinking for Management

Letters to Thinkers

The Mechanism of Mind

New Thinking for the New Millennium

Opportunities

Parallel Thinking: From Socratic Thinking to de Bono Thinking

Po: Beyond Yes and No

Practical Thinking

Serious Creativity

Simplicity

Six Action Shoes

Six Thinking Hats

Sur/Petition

Teach Your Child How to Think

Teach Yourself How to Think

Teaching Thinking

The Use of Lateral Thinking

Water Logic

Word Power

Testimonials

Dr Edward de Bono Testimonials

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback we have received. Here are some highlights of what you said…

“I leave this session a different person with the commitment to adapt to new ways of thinking and apply these in my personal and work life.”Nomsa Motsegare, Chief Operating Officer, National Credit Regulator

“Food for thought. de Bono makes it simple and accessible. This is very much needed in our education system.”Colleen McCallum, Managing Director, Cambridge University Press Excellent

“Companies can invest in their employees be sending them to one of Dr de Bono’s conferences. Changes your thinking completely. I am impressed.”Babalwa Mgolombane, Administration Manager, Old Mutual

Thank you, I would like to see my company take advantage of such training.

Anna Rich, Senior Editor, Fair Lady

Great to get the opportunity to see a childhood hero in person.

Stephen Whitehead, Director, Boogertman & Partners Architects

It was definitely a great conference.

Portia Mokhwesana, Manager, Standard Bank

It was fascinating, informative and definitely practical.

Fatima Jakoet, Pilot, SAA

Good conference, effective presentation style and great vision for effective business making a difference in SA.

Robin Nixon, Strategic Planner, The Jupiter Drawing Room

Dr de Bono must be one of the most exciting speakers ever.

Tanja Koch, Executive, DAV Professional Placement Group

Of course Dr Edward de Bono – absolutely world class. It is such a privilege to attend his seminar.

Charlotte Oranje, General Merchandising Manager, Makro

An unbelievably inspiring conference well worth every penny. Would do it again.

Thembeka Ngugi, Marketing Executive, Old Mutual

Really filling intellectual feast

Zodwa Matsa, Chair of Department, UNISAA

Dr de Bono simplifies the learning and thinking process. Great day – well organised.

Graham Rebello, Channel Executive, Massmart

I found all the presenters very intriguing in the way they use simple logic to create an overwhelming difference.

Unathi Njokweni Magida, Talent Engagement Manager, Engen Petroleum SA

Would love to attend the next event.

Samantha Wilcox-Diedericks, Merchandise Manager, Equator Accessories

Thanks, great networking and time to think how we do things.

Estelle Van Wyk, Insights & Innovation, The Ceres Beverage Company

News

RICARDO SEMLER – MAVERICK OR LATERAL THINKER?

by Nicola Tyler | 31 July 2013

“If we have a cardinal strategy that forms the bedrock of all these challenges, it’s “Ask Why?”. Ask it all the time, and always ask it three times in a row. This doesn’t come naturally. People are conditioned to recoil from questioning too much. First, it’s rude and dangerous. Second, it may imply we are ignorant or uninformed. Third, it means everything we think we know may not be correct or true. Fourth, management is usually frightened by the prospect of employees who question continually. But, mostly, it means putting aside all the rote or pat answers that have resulted from what I call ‘crystallized’ thinking, the state of mind where ideas have so hardened into inflexible and unquestioned concepts that they are no longer of any use. Employees must be free to question, to analyze, to investigate, and a company must be flexible enough to listen to the answers. Those habits are key to longevity, growth and profit.

We don’t know if Semler ever attended a lateral thinking seminar, but what we do know is that Edward de Bono introduced us to a deliberate lateral thinking tool called Challenge. A tool that asks the question “why?” – three times! The challenge tool is brilliant for questioning businesses’ processes and systems, but can be applied to any traditional thinking.

Challenge is designed to question the status quo in a deliberate way but without attacking it. The technique is simple to learn, yet despite its simplicity, we still tend to give up before the end. In the de Bono approach, we would list our traditional thinking about a situation, what he terms a “Checklist of Current Thinking”. Once you have that, you then ask Why in the same style that Semler does, but in a slightly more deliberate manner.

The first approach is to ask Why C? The C stands for Cut. Here we are questioning the necessity of something – do we really need it or could this be “cut” out so to speak. If you consider a chair, you might challenge the legs of the chair. Can we “cut” the legs? In my work, I generally find that there are few things people are comfortable cutting: often the Why C naturally leads the thinker to the next Why in the process.

Why B? The B stands for Because and is intended to highlight the reasons why something is done in a particular way. We do this ‘because…’. Considering the chair example, chairs have legs because they provide support for the seat: it’s a way of keeping the seat off the ground and creating height for comfort and style. In the Challenge process, de Bono also encourages us to question the validity of these reasons. Is style a valid reason? Perhaps not. Is a way of creating a height a valid reason? Yes it is. If it weren’t for the legs, the chair would be called a cushion. It would just be a seat on the floor, and if it was a moulded seat, might even be more uncomfortable.

Which bring us to the last Why – Why A? Here the A stands for Alternatives, and de Bono asks us to question is there another way – is there an alternative to legs, or could we seek to satisfy the reason in a new, different or better way. The deliberate search for an alternative requires a positive mental attitude, (the basic belief that there may be a better way), as well as deliberate effort. All too often we don’t even consider alternatives, for the same reasons that Semler states – you may be proven wrong, or perhaps even right.

João Vendramin, our 60-year old director emeritus, once asked a worker if he’d ever considered a different approach to his job. ‘He answered that his boss told him to do it that way,’ Vendramin remembers. ‘So I insisted. He told me that once he had done this job differently, but his boss reprimanded him. While trying to explain to his boss what happened he said, “I was thinking that….” To which his boss instantly replied, “Thinking? You are not supposed to think. I am the one who thinks here.”’

Source: The Seven-Day Weekend by Ricardo Semler

Want to know more? Ricardo Semler, Author of The Seven-Day Weekend and Maverick and CEO of Semco, one of Brazil’s top performing, privately owned companies, will be sharing his innovative thinking. Visit www.theprogressconference.com for more information or call Ingrid on 011 463 9898.

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